A short history of composite aircraft potted, without writing a book, I can't possibly include everything!
The origins of the concept lie in the need to increase range. The very earliest were airships carrying a 'heavier than air' aircraft. The British tried this with a Sea Scout airship and BE.2c Fighter.
Soon combinations of two aircraft were being tried. By 1937 the British were testing the Short-Mayo composite, named after Robert Mayo then of British Imperial Airways,comprised of a lower S.21 flying boat (Maia) and an upper Short S.20 float plane (Mercury). Mayo's combination was a solution to the problem of carrying mail quickly between Britain and North America.The concept was not pursued by the British though it did appear again early in the war before being finally abandoned by Portal in May 1942.
It was the Germans who developed the 'Mistel method of towing' initially with a glider attached to and below a powered aircraft. Early examples were composed of a Kl 35 aircraft above a DFS 23 glider, later a Bf 109 E was fitted above the same type of glider.
Once war was declared the eventual method by which the Mistel concept would be employed was a combination of the composite aircraft concept and the ideas of a certain Siegfried Holzbauer about delivering large bombs (literally Grossebombe) on British ships. He imagined a jet powered combination with the smaller aircraft embedded into the lower bomb, but the concepts are not dissimilar.
This led to work on the first offensive Mistel combination, the project was code named 'Beethoven', which would comprise a Bf 109 F and Ju 88 A-4. The Germans developed sophisticated control circuits and fitted auto-pilots as well as developing huge and powerful war heads. These were not simply a large bomb.The Mistel warhead, Schwere Holladung (SHL) 3500 contained 1,700 Kg of explosive in a hollow charge and was a sophisticated design for sinking ships or blow open reinforced concrete walls as found on command bunkers and heavy gun emplacements as well as to destroy factories and other industrial targets. The assembled Mistel was actually called a Beethoven-Gerat (Beethoven device).
The initial attack using the new system was to have been made on Scapa Flow.
I can't go into the various testing and operations of this weapon, suffice to say it didn't work as well as expected.
There were several types of 'Mistel' actually built and flown operationally. The Mistel 1 was the most numerous.
Mistel 1 was a Bf 109 F and Ju 88 A combination.
Mistel S1 was a Bf 109 G and Ju 88 C combination
Mistel S2 was a Fw 190 A and Ju 88 G combination.
Specifically the Fw 190/Ta 154 combination as can be built from this kit.
It was the RLM that asked Focke-Wulf to look into this in July 1944 following the appearance of the first Junkers built Mistel 1s. The Ta 154 had not met expectations and was on the verge of cancellation, so Focke-Wulf jumped at the chance to save the contract, albeit in somewhat modified form. Focke-Wulf drawings for a warhead carrying Mistel combination date from mid July 1944. It is unlikely that any of these were completed, so building the version with a warhead may be verging on a what if.
There are however other drawings of a Fw 190/Ta 154 Mistel described as a 'Sprengstofftrager' or explosives carrier. This is the version intended for use against bomber formations and comprised a Fw 190 and Ta 154, the latter without the warhead but simply packed with explosives. The explosives would be detonated by the pilot of the separated Fw 190 controlling aircraft at what he deemed the appropriate time. Some sources suggest that six of this version were completed and test flown at Eschwege. Whether any were used operationally is not known.
There were all sorts of weird and wonderful Mistels proposed, from a double Me 262 to a Bf 109/Fi 103 (V1) and many more, but they were never built.
Cheers
Steve
The origins of the concept lie in the need to increase range. The very earliest were airships carrying a 'heavier than air' aircraft. The British tried this with a Sea Scout airship and BE.2c Fighter.
Soon combinations of two aircraft were being tried. By 1937 the British were testing the Short-Mayo composite, named after Robert Mayo then of British Imperial Airways,comprised of a lower S.21 flying boat (Maia) and an upper Short S.20 float plane (Mercury). Mayo's combination was a solution to the problem of carrying mail quickly between Britain and North America.The concept was not pursued by the British though it did appear again early in the war before being finally abandoned by Portal in May 1942.
It was the Germans who developed the 'Mistel method of towing' initially with a glider attached to and below a powered aircraft. Early examples were composed of a Kl 35 aircraft above a DFS 23 glider, later a Bf 109 E was fitted above the same type of glider.
Once war was declared the eventual method by which the Mistel concept would be employed was a combination of the composite aircraft concept and the ideas of a certain Siegfried Holzbauer about delivering large bombs (literally Grossebombe) on British ships. He imagined a jet powered combination with the smaller aircraft embedded into the lower bomb, but the concepts are not dissimilar.
This led to work on the first offensive Mistel combination, the project was code named 'Beethoven', which would comprise a Bf 109 F and Ju 88 A-4. The Germans developed sophisticated control circuits and fitted auto-pilots as well as developing huge and powerful war heads. These were not simply a large bomb.The Mistel warhead, Schwere Holladung (SHL) 3500 contained 1,700 Kg of explosive in a hollow charge and was a sophisticated design for sinking ships or blow open reinforced concrete walls as found on command bunkers and heavy gun emplacements as well as to destroy factories and other industrial targets. The assembled Mistel was actually called a Beethoven-Gerat (Beethoven device).
The initial attack using the new system was to have been made on Scapa Flow.
I can't go into the various testing and operations of this weapon, suffice to say it didn't work as well as expected.
There were several types of 'Mistel' actually built and flown operationally. The Mistel 1 was the most numerous.
Mistel 1 was a Bf 109 F and Ju 88 A combination.
Mistel S1 was a Bf 109 G and Ju 88 C combination
Mistel S2 was a Fw 190 A and Ju 88 G combination.
Specifically the Fw 190/Ta 154 combination as can be built from this kit.
It was the RLM that asked Focke-Wulf to look into this in July 1944 following the appearance of the first Junkers built Mistel 1s. The Ta 154 had not met expectations and was on the verge of cancellation, so Focke-Wulf jumped at the chance to save the contract, albeit in somewhat modified form. Focke-Wulf drawings for a warhead carrying Mistel combination date from mid July 1944. It is unlikely that any of these were completed, so building the version with a warhead may be verging on a what if.
There are however other drawings of a Fw 190/Ta 154 Mistel described as a 'Sprengstofftrager' or explosives carrier. This is the version intended for use against bomber formations and comprised a Fw 190 and Ta 154, the latter without the warhead but simply packed with explosives. The explosives would be detonated by the pilot of the separated Fw 190 controlling aircraft at what he deemed the appropriate time. Some sources suggest that six of this version were completed and test flown at Eschwege. Whether any were used operationally is not known.
There were all sorts of weird and wonderful Mistels proposed, from a double Me 262 to a Bf 109/Fi 103 (V1) and many more, but they were never built.
Cheers
Steve
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